Performance, Commentary & Portfolio

Fund Manager’s Review

Portfolio overview

Allianz Technology Trust’s Net Asset Value (NAV) total return was 19.9% in April, compared to the Dow Jones World Technology Index return of 16.2% in GBP.

Equities rebounded sharply amid hopes of de-escalating tensions in the Middle East, while market jitters resurfaced as Brent crude continued to soar and the prospect of further peace talks remained unclear. Within technology, the majority of industries were higher, led by semiconductors, communications equipment and interactive media amid robust AI-related demand trends, while entertainment and diversified telecommunications declined.

Monthly relative performance was led by bottom-up stockpicking in technology hardware as well as exposure to electrical equipment and a below-benchmark weight in software, which was partially offset by an overweight allocation to IT services and more conservative short-term stock selection in semiconductors.

Contributors

Our position in Bloom Energy Corp., a provider of fuel cell power systems for data centres and industrial users, aided performance thanks to strong earnings results, upside guidance and an expanded multi-gigawatt partnership to power AI data centres, positioning the company as a critical, scalable power provider for AI infrastructure.

Our active position in Sandisk Corp., a manufacturer of memory and Universal Serial Bus (USB) drives for photography, gaming, and data centres, continued to aid results thanks to AI‑driven NAND (a type of memory) pricing strength, datacentre demand, and upside earnings guidance, reinforced by Nasdaq‑100 index inclusion, which drove incremental passive and institutional buying.

Shares of Monolithic Power Systems, Inc., a designer of high‑performance power management semiconductors, moved higher following quarterly earnings beat (when reported revenue for a specific quarter exceeds the average estimates set by financial analysts) and an improved outlook, driven by accelerating demand for AI-related server and networking power solutions, with management increasing confidence in sustained enterprise data growth.

Micron Technology, Inc.,a leading producer of DRAM and NAND memory, including high-bandwidth memory (HBM) for AI and data-centre workloads, continued to move higher amid strength in the AI-driven memory super-cycle, tight supply and improving pricing, analyst price-target upgrades.

Our below-benchmark allocation iPhone and personal computer giant Apple Inc., contributed to relative performance as the stock was only modestly higher during the month, with investors weighing the company’s leadership transition, their AI strategy and new product development expectations.

Detractors

Our exclusion of legacy chipmaker Intel Corp. detracted from relative results as shares surged following outsized earnings results and partnerships which reinforced the company’s potential turnaround and AI data-centre relevance.

Similarly, our avoidance of South Korean chipmaker SK hynix Inc. offset relative performance as the company’s share price rebounded due to record profits driven by AI-related HBM demand, tight memory supply, and pricing strength which supported a valuation re-rating.

Our active position in Cloudflare, Inc., a global cloud platform providing internet security, performance, and edge-compute services, detracted from monthly performance as the stock was flat, reflecting uncertainty around AI agents disrupting traditional software-as-a-service economics and increased competitive intensity in edge and AI infrastructure.

An above-benchmark allocation to Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., the world’s largest dedicated semiconductor foundry, offset performance as the stock posted a double-digit advance and trailed the return of its higher beta semiconductor-related peers.

Shares of Snowflake Inc., a cloud-native data warehousing and analytics platform for enterprise data and AI workloads, declined amid broader enterprise software headwinds, driven by concerns around AI-driven pressure on consumption models, legal overhangs, and heightened competition in data platforms.

New buys and sells 

Turnover in April was undertaken at a typical level to incrementally adjust the risk versus reward profile. We newly purchased global e-commerce, cloud computing (AWS), and digital services leader Amazon.com Inc., due to its strong AI growth trajectory and potential for strategic investments in its own chips. Similarly, we bought analog and embedded semiconductor maker Texas Instruments Inc. and integrated semiconductor manufacturer STMicroelectronics NV due to expectations of a cyclical recovery in analog chips. Alternatively, we exited our position in two Chinese stocks: e-commerce and digital ecosystem platform Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. and technology gaming, social media and payments conglomerate Tencent Holdings Ltd. amid weaker ecommerce, slowing macro expectations and uncertainty around AI-related strategies. We fully exited our position in electronics manufacturing and supply-chain solutions provider Celestica Inc. given the expectation that the growth potential was fully priced into the stock. We sold our stake in audio streaming platform Spotify Technology SA amid disappointing earnings results and advertising trends. Lastly, we exited three software stocks: collaborative design and product development software maker Figma, Inc., consumer-focused marketing platform Klaviyo, Inc. and enterprise workflow and AI-driven operations developer ServiceNow, Inc. due to expectations of continued headwinds in select software segments.

Market Outlook 

We remain constructive on technology, driven by durable AI-led growth and expanding adoption across use cases. Valuations are more balanced after prior compression, improving entry points in high-quality, recurringrevenue businesses. The AI opportunity is broadening from infrastructure into software and services, while fundamentals remain resilient. Despite near-term volatility, leading companies remain well positioned as AI monetisation becomes more evident.

Our focus remains on building the portfolio from a bottom-up perspective with a macro-overview. Technology remains a key enabler across almost every vertical industry and we will continue to seek stocks which solve difficult problems and can be long-term outperformers. We believe earnings growth ultimately drives stock prices over the long term, and in our view, we are still early in the spending trend supporting this dynamic segment.

Mike Seidenberg
11 May 2026

This is no recommendation or solicitation to buy or sell any particular security. Any security mentioned above will not necessarily be comprised in the portfolio by the time this document is disclosed or at any other subsequent date.

Awards & Ratings

A ranking, a rating or an award provides no indicator of future performance and is not constant over time.